This invention relates to systems and methods for monitoring exposure to environmental contaminants, and more particularly to real-time exposure monitoring systems and methods.
Real-time instrumentation has been combined with the use of video to perform exposure assessments in the past, e.g., assessments of exposure to air contaminants as described, for example, by James D. McGlothlin et al. in “Dust Control by Ergonomic Design,” Proceedings IXth International Conference on Production Research, 687–694 (1987), and by Michael G. Gressel et al. in “Video Exposure Monitoring—A Means of Studying Sources of Occupational Air Contaminant Exposure, Part I—Video Exposure Monitoring Techniques,” Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 8(4): 334–338 (1993). However, all known environmental exposure monitoring systems have limitations on their efficiency and effectiveness, and thus there remains a need for improvements in systems and methods for monitoring exposure.
More specifically, better ways are needed to protect workers from potential overexposure to environmental contaminants such as particulates and solvent vapor, among others things, in pharmaceutical and other processing operations. It is desirable but impractical to monitor worker activities in many field settings, for example, and thus a need remains for better ways to allow health physicists and others to understand the nature of conditions at remote locations. It is necessary to know which specific task elements during a job operation lead to the greatest exposure in order to effectively train employees to utilize good practices that will minimize the exposure. A related need exists in the United States for more efficient and reliable systems for providing verification for the Food and Drug Administration's Good Manufacturing Practices.